Despite a bunch of new releases with all kinds of wide and varied appeal, this weekend’s box office top 10 looks suspiciously like last week’s. Apparently, none of the newcomers could match Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler,’ which effortlessly claimed the top spot once more.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Lee Daniels’ The Butler

$17,018,000 (-30.9)

$5,472

$52,275,000

2

We’re the Millers

$13,500,000 (-24.9)

$3,919

$91,740,000

3

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

$9,300,000

$2,983

$14,051,000

4

The World’s End

$8,942,000

$5,773

$8,942,000

5

Planes

$8,567,000 (-36.0)

$2,536

$59,591,000

6

Elysium

$7,100,000 (-48.1)

$2,437

$69,054,000

7

You’re Next

$7,050,000

$2,893

$7,050,000

8

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

$5,200,000 (-40.6)

$1,905

$48,346,000

9

Blue Jasmine

$4,300,000 (+87.7)

$3,352

$14,799,000

10

Kick-Ass 2

$4,270,000 (-68.0)

$1,450

$22,423,000

Nothing about ‘The Butler’ screams “hit” when you look at it on paper, but with $52 million in two weeks (and a very small drop between last weekend and now), it’s on the road to being another surprise summer 2013 hit. With the traditionally slow September upon us, it’ll be interesting to see if the film can maintain its momentum. After all, there really isn’t that much standing in its way for a few weeks.

Speaking of surprise hits, ‘We’re the Millers‘ clung to the number two spot with $13 million, bringing it to a grand total of $91 million. The R-rated comedy is on track to out-gross the much higher profile (and far more expensive) ‘The Hangover Part III,’ but it’ll probably slow down before getting close to ‘The Heat.’ Still, here’s evidence that adult comedies are still very much alive.

The third spot brings us to the first of the weekend’s new releases. It looks like ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones‘ will soon enter the massive pile of young adult misfires. You can’t build a franchise with a $9 million opening weekend. So keep on looking, studios. The ‘Twilight’ void has not been filled.

Right below it, ‘The World’s End‘ slid into the number four spot with an $8 million opening weekend. That’s not a particularly great number, but it’s par for the course for Edgar Wright films, which tend to foster a strong following after the fact. The budget was small enough for this to not be that big of a deal, but it’s definitely a shame that a group this talented can’t seem to catch a break at the box office.

In fifth place, ‘Planes‘ made $8 million for a $59 million total. Those are not the ‘Cars’ numbers that Disney was looking for. And what are we to make of ‘Elysium‘ in sixth place with $69 million? It’s not a total disaster, but this was an expensive movie. It’s not the kind of disappointment that causes people to lose their jobs, but there is definitely a lot of grumbling going on at Sony over this one.

And that brings us the inexplicable: how the heck does a crowd-pleasing, well-reviewed, easily accessible horror film like ‘You’re Next‘ open in seventh place with only $7 million? We have no idea. Life is unfair. This thing should have done ‘The Purge’ numbers. We’re at a loss to explain this one.

But for every disappointment, there is a victory. Woody Allen’s ‘Blue Jasmine‘ expanded into wider release, shot up 87%, and made $4 million for a $14 million total. Those certainly aren’t blockbuster numbers, but they’re exceptional numbers for a small, character-driven film like this.

Next weekend sees the release of ‘Getaway’ and the One Direction movie. You might as well stay home.

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